Of course lawyers appreciate their clients. After all, they are the ones who pay the bill. More importantly, lawyers (hopefully) exist to serve their clients.

However, in keeping with the theme here, I wanted to point out how clients can be appreciated even more by lawyers: foster productivity.

Understand time demands

It’s been said before, and I’ll say it again: Your matter is most important to you, but it might not be most important to your lawyer. Simply understanding this concept will help foster productivity between you and your lawyer.

For example, be patient with your lawyer. Repeated phone calls for a non-urgent matter do not aid productivity. Instead, it takes more time for your lawyer to simply listen to these voice messages, when he could be truly responding to the situation.

Also, remember to be clear when a matter really is time sensitive and when it is not. If there is an impending deadline that you cannot control, communicate this to your attorney. However, if the situation is simply urgent to you, communicate that as well.

Respond promptly

People are more productive when they have the information they need. If your lawyer asks questions, requests documents, or other information from you, be sure to provide it as promptly as you are able.

True, your lawyer may not respond to you immediately, but the quicker you provide information to him, the more productive he can be. That ultimately means a quicker resolution of your matter.

Communicate clearly

As I mentioned above, it is important to clearly communicate priorities to your lawyer. But more than simply explaining deadlines and priorities, you should always strive to communicate as clearly as possible.

This means clearly delineating your wants vs. needs. Also, you need to provide complete information to your attorney. Finally, be sure to provide a reference to the matter anytime you communicate with your lawyer, be it email, voicemail, or in person.

Why care?

A productive attorney is a happy attorney. Well, that might not be true. But if your attorney can be more productive, he will resolve things quicker. This also means a lower bill for you, the client. Isn’t this a good reason to do what you can to help your lawyer do his job easier?

Comments

Andrew, thanks for joining in the flurry of appreciation! I particularly appreciate your post, because I think it represents some excellent tips to help clients manage their demands in a way that will facilitate getting those demands met. Nicely put.